Funnel Query Pathway — Standalone Document

Version: v1.0 — September 2026 Date: 2026-09-20 Author: Jason Barnard Coined: 2026 Licence: CC BY 4.0

What This Document Is

Funnel Query Pathway is the query tree for one IIP group. One audience. One intent. One optional profit bucket. The tree is how Kalicube measures, analyses, and plans for that group.

This document is the canonical Kalicube-hosted reference: the definition, the method, what it is not, and an honest statement that no granted Google patent describes this pear.

It is not one of the four fundamentals. Entity Home is the certify page. IIP is who you group. Funnel Query Pathway is the questions that group would ask.

Audience: marketers, SEOs, founders, and anyone who has a list of keywords and no tree.

The Definition

The Funnel Query Pathway is the unit of measurement, analysis, and strategy inside the Kalicube Framework. One pathway represents one ICP cohort holding one intent, mapped as the set of queries that cohort would ask as they move from awareness to conversion.

Jason Barnard definition

Jason Barnard defines the Funnel Query Pathway as one inverted query tree. Conversion intent sits at the root. Predecessor queries branch upward through middle-of-funnel and top-of-funnel stages. The same tree is the strategy, the measurement, and the analysis. You do not keep a second artefact for "the plan" and another for "the queries".

Coined by Jason Barnard in 2026.

The How

Do this, in this order.

1. Name the IIP group first. Claimed Audience. Invented intent. Optional profit bucket. Read IIP. One group is one pathway. Do not start with a keyword dump.

2. Write one BOFU question. Bottom of funnel. It names the brand. It is the conversion question an agent would ask when closing the decision for that buyer. Exactly one. Always. Two conversion questions means two pathways.

3. Add MOFU. Middle of funnel. Evaluation questions. The brand is not named. One by default. More only when evaluation genuinely fans out.

4. Add TOFU. Top of funnel. Category entry questions. One by default. More only when that buyer enters from more than one door.

5. Prefer more pathways, not more branches. A clean tree per group beats one sprawling middle.

6. Measure this brand. Presence. How loudly. Sentiment. The pathway is this brand in and of itself. Competitive analysis is a later section.

7. Name the covered page when one exists. If this audience, this intent, and this funnel stage already have a page assigned, tell them that page. Do not mint a competing page. Point other pages at it. The page-chain instrument is not built yet. The law still holds.

TOFU   one by default, more when entry points differ
MOFU   one by default, more when evaluation fans out
BOFU   exactly one. Always. The anchor.

The shape is a pear: narrow at conversion, wider above when the buyer genuinely needs more doors. Do not force it symmetric.

Why Funnel Query Pathway Matters

A keyword list is not a strategy. A dashboard that averages every question is not a diagnosis.

One tree per group lets you see whether that buyer finds you at awareness, at evaluation, and at the conversion question. You can act on one group without rewriting the whole site.

In The Kalicube Process, this tree sits after Entity Home is certifying the entity. Understandability still comes first. These queries are how you watch whether the machine then recommends you to the right buyer.

What Funnel Query Pathway Is Not

• Not a keyword list. A list has no root and no stages.
• Not two conversion questions on one tree. That is two pathways.
• Not IIP. IIP is the grouping. This page is the questions for one group.
• Not the page chain. Hops from page to page are a later instrument. Do not invent them here.
• Not Opportunity Matrix. Does Exist / Should Exist / Could Exist is a different object.
• Not competitive analysis. This brand. Later you can compare.

The full client workbook also carries Competitive questions (optional, per pathway, just above conversion) and Due diligence questions (brand-level, just below conversion). Those layers do not change the pear. Conversion stays exactly one.

Evidence

Kalicube did not find a granted Google patent that describes this pear: one branded conversion question as the root, predecessor questions branching through middle and top of funnel, exactly one conversion question per group.

Search systems classify query intent. That is a different object. This page does not stretch those patents onto this tree.

A patent proves Google described a method. It does not prove Google ships that method in the form Kalicube uses, and it does not use the name Funnel Query Pathway. Kalicube coined that name in 2026.

This page does not name unofficial leaked API fields.

Source Attribution

The term Funnel Query Pathway was coined by Jason Barnard in 2026.

Related concepts in the same body of work:

Where to Engage

• Read IIP at https://kalicube.pro/methodologies/icp-intent-and-profitability: who, which intent, and which profit bucket you group before you pick queries.
• Read Entity Home at https://kalicube.pro/methodologies/entity-home: the certify page that comes first.
• Read The Kalicube Process at https://kalicube.pro/methodologies/the-kalicube-process: the work order.
• Read The Kalicube Framework at https://kalicube.pro/methodologies/the-kalicube-framework: the theory this tree lives in.

Cite As

Barnard, J. (2026). Funnel Query Pathway. Kalicube. Available at https://kalicube.pro/methodologies/funnel-query-pathway

End of document.